Zeami Motokiyo

Who was Zeami Motokiyo?

Zeami Motokiyo, also called Kanze Motokiyo, was a Japanese aesthetician, an actor, and a playwright. His father, Kanami, introduced him to Noh theater performance at a young age, and found that he was a skilled actor. Kanami was also skilled in acting and decided to form a family theater ensemble. As the family theater troupe grew in popularity, Zeami had the opportunity to perform in front of the Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. The Shogun was impressed with by the young actor and began to compose a friendship with the young actor. Zeami was introduced to Yoshimitsu's court and was provided with an education in Classical Literature and Philosophy while continuing to act. In 1374, Zeami received patronage and made acting his career. After the death of his father in 1385, he led the family troupe, a role in which he found greater success.

Zeami mixed a variety of Classical and Modern themes in his writing, and made use of Japanese and Chinese tradition. He incorporated numerous themes of Zen Buddhism into his works and later commentators have debated the extent of his personal interest in Zen. The exact number of plays that he wrote is unknown, but is likely between 30 and 50. He wrote many treatise about Noh, discussing the philosophy of performance. These treatises are the oldest known works on the philosophy of drama in Japanese literature, but did not see popular circulation until the 20th-century.